President
Paul?

January 25,
2007

Dozens
of people have announced their candidacies
for the White House in 2008, and if I had to bet at this point, I would put my
money on the old woman. Hillary may be awful, but at least she is predictable.
I
suppose I can learn to resign myself to her.

What difference
does it really make? Our next president will have his or her hands full cleaning
up after George W. Bush. In a negative sense, he has already
set the agenda for his unfortunate successor. Just getting this country back
to normal would be a labor of Hercules. And Hercules isnt in the race.

Politics
doesnt often produce good news, but I am slightly heartened to learn
that Congressman Ron Paul is contemplating a run for the presidency. The
Texas Republican has now taken the standard preliminary step of forming an
exploratory committee.

Paul, a pro-life
medical doctor, is a genuine political maverick. When the House votes for
something 434 to 1, you can safely bet that Paul is the 1. He really fights
for the principles other Republicans only pretend to stand for, and does so
with carefully reasoned explanations of his positions.

In essence, Paul
appeals to that subversive document, the U.S. Constitution, long since
abandoned by both major parties, not to mention the U.S. Supreme Court. He
tests every proposed law by asking whether it exercises a power authorized
by the Constitution. The answer is seldom yes.

Many years ago Paul
told me, with his affably ironic smile, that he felt more pressure from his
fellow Republicans than from Democrats, because the Democrats
werent embarrassed when a Republican voted like a real
conservative, but the Republicans were. Showing up his own party has been
the story of Ron Pauls career. No other Republican has voted against
President Bush as consistently as he has.

Paul isnt
flamboyant or defiant about it; his style is quiet and reasonable, not
combative. Being a maverick isnt a pose for him. Its a matter
of conscience and logic.

As a result, the
GOP doesnt care much for him and, if he runs, will try to stifle him.
The allegedly right-wing Newt Gingrich, when he was riding high, once
supported Pauls opponent in the primary race; Gingrich knew what he
was doing. A genuine conservatives worst enemy is a fake one. And
vice versa.

Paul
ran for president once before, in 1988, when he bolted
the GOP to run on the Libertarian Party ticket. Much as I admired him, I voted
for George H.W. Bush, afraid of wasting my
vote on Paul, who had no real chance of winning. Silly me. I soon realized I had
really wasted my vote on Bush. It made no difference to Bush, after all, since
he was going to win no matter what I did; but it made a difference to me. I
still regret it. (And to this day, Bush has never thanked me.)

Paul has no chance
of winning this time either, but he may make a real difference just by being
himself. He is what liberals used to call a conscience-raiser. He makes people
reflect. After six years of supporting George W. Bush,
conservatives should be in a reflective mood. American democracy has come
down to an unappetizing choice between the War Party and the Abortion
Party. Paul could offer an alternative to this bitter dilemma.

The Constitution
must never be mistaken for Holy Writ, but at least it is based on the idea
that there should be what William F. Buckley has called
rational limits to government. At this point, even that may
well be a utopian hope.

But we have
subscribed to the principle that the Federal Government must confine itself
to powers actually enumerated therein. And after all, our rulers are still
sworn to uphold it, just as Bill Clinton is still legally bound by his wedding
vows.

Taken literally, this
would reduce the government to about 5 percent of its
current size. That would be a huge improvement. If nothing else, the
Constitution stands as a reminder of what normality used to be.

Well, I can dream,
cant I? And today Im dreaming of President Ron Paul, with a
Congress he deserves.

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